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It came as supermarket giant Woolworths has taken the extraordinary step of withdrawing sewing needles from its shelves nationally following the fruit tampering crisis.

"We've taken the precautionary step of temporarily removing sewing needles from sale in our stores. The safety of our customers is our top priority," a Woolworths spokesman told news.com.au.

Coles said it had no plans to pull sewing needles from its shelves, saying it was instead focused on thoroughly inspecting strawberries before they arrived at the nation's supermarkets.

"We have worked with our suppliers to implement additional control measures to ensure strawberries are inspected before they are sent to supermarkets. Queensland Health has advised people should cut up strawberries before consuming them," a Coles spokeswoman told news.com.au.